While no vote was taken, consensus among members of the City Council Wednesday, March 29, was that the old grandstands at Edwards Field will be demolished and a memorial to the site will be erected.
City staff will research the cost of tearing down the old concrete structure and putting up a memorial, and will bring that dollar amount to the next City Council meeting, which is scheduled for April 19.
Ray Marsh, the city’s top building official, told the City Council that the grandstands are not up to code and it would take an estimated $500,000 or more to bring the structure to compliance.
Marsh said the first thing he noticed about the structure is that the steps leading into the grandstands have no handrails and the steps are too high.
“I just look at that field. I’m intimately familiar with the history of this area and I am dedicated to it but first and foremost, my job is to make sure our citizens are safe. We have a structure in our inventory and it’s not safe,” Marsh said.
Commissioner Billie Dean said he had received several calls from those wanting to save the structure, but that the cost was too high.
“I hate to see taxpayers’ money wasted and I hate to disappoint the old people who would like to keep Edwards Field, so you’re caught between a rock and a hard place,” Dean said.
“I suggest that we’re going to spend too much money trying to preserve it. Rather than just demolish and forget it, build a memorial to honor where Edwards Field was because Edwards Field has a lot of history. We’re here to try to save the taxpayers’ money. We don’t need to waste money.”
Other commissioners and Mayor Joe Kilsheimer all spoke about the historical significance of the grandstands but agreed that the cost was too high to restore the structure.
In response to a question from Commissioner Kyle Becker, Marsh said the demolition of the structure would likely cost anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000, but that he would bring back a more firm estimate to the City Council on April 19.
Read more about the Edwards Field discussion, as well as what else happened at the City Council meeting, in the Friday, March 31 issue of The Apopka Chief.